Hair cutting device



May 2 1964 D. s. BROMAN HAIR CUTTING DEVICE Filed July 28, 1961 INVENTOR ,D; we 6: 5eoMA/1/ BY Z / ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,134,382 HAER CUTTING DEVHIE David S. Brennan, 3636 16th St. NW., Washington, D.C. Filed July 28, 1961, Ser. No. 127,658 6 Claims. (Cl. 13245) This invention relates to a hair cutting device and more particularly to an arrangement which permits satisfactory hair cutting operations to be executed by an average person, without any professional training or skill.

It is the object of the present invention to make possible home hair cutting operations as has been done in the field of home permanents, so that a professional level of excellence in such hair cutting operations may be attained in the home, without need for the service of a beauty salon every time a hair cut or trim is necessary.

It is a further object of the invention to make possible the obtention of different styles of coifiures by means of the same instrumentalities, so that many different variations of hair styles may be obtained by a non-professional operator in the home.

The invention proceeds upon the principle of sectionalizing a head of hair into a plurality of predetermined areas following the thorough wetting thereof. This is done by applying a flexible cap to the head, which cap is provided with a plurality of contoured openings extending over the major part of the hair, and which openings are integrated by comparatively narrow webs. Individual sections of the hair are withdrawn separately from these areas by a long instrument such as the end of a rat-tail comb, and while the hair ends are held in one hand, the hair is cut by a razor operated by the other hand. The razor is detachably engaged with the flexible cap for guiding movement along the webs thereof with an adjustable displacement of the cutting blade relative to the cap and the portion of hair which has been withdrawn from under it. The razor is guided reliably along the head in a slithering motion to efiect an even cutting of the hair in each subdivided area. The cutting edge may be adjusted to different spacings from the head in the several areas, according to a predetermined instruction chart, so that the over-all cutting of the head of hair at the different areas thereof compares favorably with a professional cutting operation to obtain any desired hair styling efiect.

Other objects and purposes will appear from the detailed description of the invention following hereinafter, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the back of a head of hair showing the flexible cap or hair cutting guide in accordance with the invention applied thereto;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the adjustable razor in conjunction with the track on the hair cutting guide which makes possible a smooth cutting of the hair which is withdrawn through each of the subdivided areas of the guide;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view along a vertical plane containing line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and perpendicular to the razor supporting rod; and

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view along line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

The instant invention seeks to simplify the hair cutting operation of ladies hair so that the same may be executed in the home by unskilled operators, while making possible the obtention of any desired style effects by following predetermined sets of charts and instructions.

While the cutting of hair by the provision of guide templates and patterns has been contemplated heretofore, the ultimate results have been unsatisfactory because no provision has been made for the handling of the cutting instrumentality in a proper manner to effect the cutting ice of the hair along smooth lines at the proper lengths. Furthermore, blocking guides for the hair have been used heretofore, not only for cutting the hair, but also for curling the hair. The latter expedient is disclosed in the patent to Glick, No. 2,575,589.

According to the instant invention, a blocking guide resembling an apertured cap C is applied to the human head in order to subdivide the hair into numerous sections on the crown, sides and rear of the head. Thus, the crown may be subdivided into four or five contoured areas, with three or four areas on the side and four or five areas on the rear. As shown in FIG. 1, openings 6, 7, 8 and 9 are formed by vertical webs 2 and 2' and horizontal Webs i, 3, 4 and 5. The major area of the guide is composed of contoured openings, with minimal area devoted to the integrating webs, which are of sufficient wi th to impart the desired strength to the guide.

The guide C for subdividing the hair, functioning as a template, is formed as a cap of flexible material such as rubber or any other synthetic plastic, and tracks or retainiig ridges 1i extend along the horizontal Webs of the pattern cap adjacent to the lower edge of each of the areas, through which the hair, undergoing cutting, may be withdrawn. The tracks may be continuous along the horizontal webs intersecting the vertical webs or may terminate at the latter.

The track or ridge 1% is provided with a flange or inwardly extending lip 10, which is adapted to engage and guide the end of a cutting instrument, such as a razor. The flexibility of the flange permits the ready engagement and disengagement of the hook 14 with the track. The razor may assume the form of a rod 11 having a slot 13 along the length thereof, with a hook 14 at one end and a handle 12 at the opposite end thereof. A cutting member in the form of a. vertically disposed safety razor may be set at predetermined positions along the rod 11 of the safety razor, which spacing from the end 14 is indicated by the scale indicia 15 along the rod.

The safety razor consists of a Z-shaped backing member 20, terminating in an abutment 22 which is slidably and non-rotatably mounted within slot 13 of the rod 11. A razor blade 26 is seated against backing member 20 and is retained in place by means of a toothed guard member 27 and fastening bolts 28 thereon for retaining the guard member in place. The cutting edge for severing the hair is exposed between the teeth of the guard member.

The spacing of the razor from the hook end 14 of the razor may be adjusted by loosening wing nut 24 on bolt 23 extending through abutment 22 to obtain either a longer or shorter cut of hair.

To operate the hair cutting device in accordance with the invention, the hair is wetted thoroughly and the flexible cutting guide is applied thereto to subdivide the hair into a plurality of contoured areas. The shaft of a rattail comb may then be used to pull out the hair from one of the openings in the guide and this portion of hair is held outwardly from the head by the fingers of one hand. The displacement of the razor blade from the hook end 14 is adjusted according to an instruction chart for the specific opening in the guide being operated upon and the style of coiffure sought to be attained. The hook end 14 of the razor, held by the other hand, is engaged with the track 10 at one end thereof and is moved by the operator with a slithering motion toward the opposite end thereof in the path of the hair held between the fingers of the first hand.

After the hair extending through one opening is cut, the razor is disengaged from the track and the operation is repeated 'with the hair in the next subdivided area which is pulled out from under the guide. An adjustment of the cutting blade from the end 14 is made before the 3 next cutting operation if such is required by the instruction chart.

The above procedure is repeated for every section of the hair guide, and the controlled length of hair cut in each one of the subdivided sections conforming to the selected chart, results in any desired coiffure style, which compares, favorably with the results obtained by a tenserial artist.

The tracks on the webs of the guide for engaging ,the end of the razor may assume different fomns as long as they form part of the guide body and cooperate with the end of the razor which constitutes the reference point for the adjustable cutting blade.

While I have described my invention as embodied in a specific form and as operating in a specific manner for purposes of illustration, it should be understood that I do not limit my invention thereto, since various modifications Will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art Without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the annexed claims.

I claim: I

1. A hair cutting device comprising a guide adapted to cover substantially the entire head and composed of numerous intersecting webs extending in diverse directions and defining numerous openings therebetween to sectionalizethe hair, undergoing cutting, into a large number of predetermined areas on the crown, sides and rear of the head, a retaining track on the exteriorof said guide extending along each of a plurality of said webs and adjacent to said openings, a hair cutting instrument having one end thereof in detachable interengagement with a selected one of said retaining tracks and movable therealong, and a cutting blade mounted on said instrument and spaced adjustably from said end for cutting the hair adapted to be Withdrawn from each of said areas to predetermined lengths, in dependence upon the style of coifiure sought to be obtained.

'2. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said guide is formed of flexible plastic material with the retaining tracl: molded integrally therewith.

3. A hair cutting device comprising a flexible cap adapted to cover substantially the entire head and composed of numerous webs extending in diverse directions including horizontal planes and defining numerous openings therebetween to sectionalize the hair, undergoing cutting, into a large number of predetermined areas on the crown, sides and rear of the head, a retaining track on the ex-. terior of said cap extending along each of a plurality of the horizontal webs, a razor having one end thereof in detachable interengagement with a selected one of said Kg. retaining tracks and movable therealong, and a transversely disposed cutting blade mounted on said razor and spaced adjustably from said end, for cutting the hair adapted to be Withdrawn from each of said areas to predetermined lengths, in dependence upon the style of witfure sought to be obtained.

4. A device as set forth in claim 3 wherein each track is formed integrally with said cap and is provided with a flexible flange along the upper edge thereof to permit the detachable interengagement of the end of the razor therewith.

5. A hair cutting device comprising a flexible cap adapted to cover substantially the entire head and composed of numerous webs extending in diverse directions and defining numerous openings therebetween to sectionalize the hair, undergoing cutting, into a large number of predetermined areas on the crown, sides and rear of the head, a retaining ridge on the exterior of said cap extending along each of a plurality of said webs and integral there with, an inwardly extending lip along the upper edge of each ridge, a razor having a hook at one end thereof in detachable interengagement With a selected one of said retaining ridges and a handle at the opposite end thereof for moving said razor along the selected ridge, and a cutting blade adjustably mounted on said razor transversely of said handle and between the ends thereof for cutting the hair adapted to be withdrawn from each of said areas to predetermined lengths in dependence upon the style of hair cut sought to be obtained.

6. A hair cutting device comprising a flexible template adapted to cover substantially all of the hair on the human head, said template being provided with numerous elongate openings of predetermined areas and directional disposition and delineated by interconnecting Webs of the template, a track on the exterior of each of a plurality of said webs adjacent to the long dimension of a plurality of said openings, a razor comprising a shaft with one end thereof selectively engaged with and movable along a selected one of said tracks, and a cutting bladeadjust ably mounted on said shaft with varying displacements from said end thereof. 1

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

5. A HAIR CUTTING DEVICE COMPRISING A FLEXIBLE CAP ADAPTED TO COVER SUBSTANTIALLY THE ENTIRE HEAD AND COMPOSED OF NUMEROUS WEBS EXTENDING IN DIVERSE DIRECTIONS AND DEFINING NUMEROUS OPENINGS THEREBETWEEN TO SECTIONALIZE THE HAIR, UNDERGOING CUTTING, INTO A LARGE NUMBER OF PREDETERMINED AREAS ON THE CROWN, SIDES AND REAR OF THE HEAD, A RETAINING RIDGE ON THE EXTERIOR OF SAID CAP EXTENDING ALONG EACH OF A PLURALITY OF SAID WEBS AND INTEGRAL THEREWITH, AN INWARDLY EXTENDING LIP ALONG THE UPPER EDGE OF EACH RIDGE, A RAZOR HAVING A HOOK AT ONE END THEREOF IN DETACHABLE INTERENGAGEMENT WITH A SELECTED ONE OF SAID RETAINING RIDGES AND A HANDLE AT THE OPPOSITE END THEREOF FOR MOVING SAID RAZOR ALONG THE SELECTED RIDGE, AND A CUTTING BLADE ADJUSTABLY MOUNTED ON SAID RAZOR TRANSVERSELY OF SAID HANDLE AND BETWEEN THE ENDS THEREOF FOR CUTTING THE HAIR ADAPTED TO BE WITHDRAWN FROM EACH OF SAID AREAS TO PREDETERMINED LENGTHS IN DEPENDENCE UPON THE STYLE OF HAIR CUT SOUGHT TO BE OBTAINED. 